


Venus in Cancer

by Megumi_Ai



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Gen, Loneliness, parrot origin, petshop, possible depression, pre-mgs2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 07:57:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20422565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megumi_Ai/pseuds/Megumi_Ai
Summary: After graduating high school at a young age, Emma Emmerich, finds herself following the footsteps of her brother and leaving home to take classes at Oxford. However, living on her own and navigating college social interactions is challenging especially without anyone to rely on. Emma attempts to find a solution to cure her loneliness.





	Venus in Cancer

There was a clang of a bell as Emma Emmerich entered through the door. The air was crowded with barks, squeaks, and a menagerie of other animal sounds. Despite her skepticism of all the self-help blogs and online forums she had consulted; somehow the technological prodigy had wandered to a small local pet shop on the corner of a fairly busy street. 

She didn’t believe a pet would help cure her loneliness. It has been worse than ever since she left home and moved into a place of her own. The solution just couldn’t have been so simple as the anonymous masses had made it seem. She refused to admit she missed Hal. She refused to admit she had no friends. She refused to admit she was lonely, but she was desperate

She began strolling down the aisle past an apron-clad employee stocking the dusty shelves. She pet the small selection of fluffy cats and energetic dogs available; although, much to her dismay, they weren’t allowed in her apartment building. She passed snakes, lizards, and other reptiles. Absolutely out of the question. She shuddered at the fact that she would have to handle the crawly creatures she despised so much to feed them. Naturally, there were ferrets, hamsters, guinea pigs, and bunnies but those were potential hazards to the multitude of cords belonging to her computer set-up. When she finally made her way to the back of the store, she was confronted with we she believed to be possibly the most boring pet in existence: fish.

The girl genius’ conclusion was correct about this ridiculous notion that she had let into her head. None of the animals could even grab her attention, let alone become her friend. There was not a single animal in the world that could solve her problem. Emma relinquished a sigh of defeat as she prepared to leave.

“Hello?” The high-pitched voice she heard caught her off-guard.

The girl whipped her head around in search of the source. Her violet eyes immediately fixated on the employee, still engrossed in his menial task.

The voice sounded again, “**_*squawk*_ **Hello.”

She turned around again to finally notice a parrot on its perch tucked away, hidden in the corner. She apprehensively approached the green-feathered animal to investigate it.

“Hello. **_*squawk*_**”

“H-hi there.” she timidly replied.

“**_*squawk*_** What’s your name? **_*squawk*_**”

“I’m-m Emma.”

“Emma. Emma! **_*squawk*_** Emma!” The talking bird excitedly bounced up and down as it continued to repeat the name.

The bespectacled girl couldn’t help but quietly giggle at it; something she hadn’t done in months. She had miraculously found a new friend. Then and there on that whim, she made the executive decision to buy the lively creature. 

Using some money leftover from her most recent hacking job, she completed the transaction and walked out. She headed home with a golden cage, plastic water trough, food pellets, and most importantly her new companion.

That evening, Emma arrived back at her apartment. It was getting late and she still had work to finish. The curly brunette quickly got the parrot and his cage situated next to her desk. She frantically grabbed a cup of instant ramen from the cupboard and shoved it into the microwave to cook. Carefully, with the hot Styrofoam container in her hands, she walked over to her computer desk. The steam gently fogged up the lenses on her face as she briskly typed code into the keyboard.

A couple hours passed. The worm created to deliver her client’s payload was complete. Exhausted from the long day, Emma stretched as she removed the glasses from her face, gently placing them folded on the desktop. The young girl then slumped onto her desk, laying down to rest her head upon her scraggly arms.

She looked up with heavy eyelids at her bird, who had settled down from his constant chirping. Upon closer inspection, her new friend strangely reminded her of the stuffed parrot her brother gifted for her birthday when she was little. Except this parrot was larger, more vibrant, and didn’t have patches of matted fuzz from years of being well-loved.

_ I think I’ll call him Otacon_, she thought to herself. She was then flooded with memories of the months they spent playing together. Days of saving the universe with plastic mechanical lions and robots. Days of constructing blanket forts. Nights of secretly playing on the Gameboy under the covers by the glow of a book light instead of going to bed. And many, many days of pretend house. 

But that was before he had abandoned her. 

As she fell asleep that night, tears forming in her eyes, she spoke softly.

“Hal… I miss you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the parrot's name is canonically Otacon. This is my first fanfic that I've officially published but the only the second I've ever written. This is also my first MGS fic. Emma Emmerich is my favorite character so I just needed to write a piece with her to give her some more love! I wanted to explore a story or two that we didn't get to see so I delved into her getting her parrot friend from MGS2. Please let me know what you think!
> 
> As per the notes of my beta reader:
> 
> " *squints* is that a Voltron reference I see there?? " 
> 
> Yes, yes it is. One of my headcanons is that Hal grew up on the original Voltron given when he was born and when the series came out. So I'd imagine that he'd share a lot of the things he experienced growing up when playing with Emma when she was a kid.


End file.
